As members of the American Sheep Industry Association gather for the organization’s annual convention at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel this week, they’ll be met with a stark reminder of the pain behind their products, courtesy of PETA: a suffering, frail sheep with the message “I Don’t Belong on Your Plate or in Your Wardrobe. Choose Vegan.” The visual plea located near the hotel reminds viewers about the sheer horror sheep face in the environmentally destructive wool industry and as young lambs killed for their flesh.

“Gentle sheep are treated not as individuals but as wool-producing machines before being slaughtered for meat once their wool production slows,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges everyone to choose vegan options and leave sheep in peace, not in pieces.”

Credit: PETA

PETA entities’ investigations have uncovered cruelty to sheep at over 100 wool operations worldwide—even on disingenuously named “responsible” farms, where shearers have been seen punching, stomping, kicking, and throwing around sheep. Shearers are often paid by volume, incentivizing them to work recklessly, and sheep are often left bloodied and in pain as a result. Their gaping wounds are then crudely stitched up—without painkillers. Once their wool becomes less desirable as they age, they’re shipped off for slaughter at just a fraction of their natural life expectancy—while some lambs are shorn once and sold for meat at only 6 to 9 months old. Millions of sheep are slaughtered every year in the U.S. alone.

Wool production is also massively damaging to the environment, as sheep farming generates huge quantities of greenhouse gas emissions and sucks up vast amounts of water and land. Independent auditors have identified wool as one of the worst environmental offenders on the market. Fortunately, most top retailers offer clothing made of natural eco- and animal-friendly vegan fabrics, including organic cotton, linen, Tencel, and modal.

The billboard is located down the street from the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel at the intersection of 14th and Champa streets.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.